


Changing Lives

by jounouchichan (Katsuko)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Family, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-30
Updated: 2011-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-15 06:05:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/157777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/jounouchichan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The smallest change can alter the lives of many people. In this case it was when Kaiba Gozaburo met, fell in love with, and married one Kawai Minako after her divorce from an abusive husband. A short, unfinished "what if" piece written in March 2005.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changing Lives

“No, _you_ listen to _me_ ,” the head of Kaiba Corp fairly snarled into the phone; one could almost see the recipient of his ire cringe. “By law that man is not to come within five hundred yards of _any_ of my siblings, genetic ties be damned. If I even so much as _think_ that Jounouchi has been near my brother I _will_ take matters into my own hands.” He paused, listened to the school official make his excuses for only a moment before speaking again: “That will _not_ be satisfactory. Consider Seto and Katsuya withdrawn from your school. I will enroll them elsewhere.”

And with that, Kaiba Noa slammed the phone down and sank back into his chair.

“...idiots.”

“Noa?”

The young man sat up and opened his eyes, realizing that the subject of his phone call to Fujimiya Private School had returned to the room. Noa offered a small smile. “Hm?”

Katsuya was, as usual, not fooled by the innocent act. “You didn’t have to threaten to eat their souls, Aniki,” he said seriously.

Noa opened his mouth to reply, closed it, frowned, and then retorted, “I never said that, Katsuya.”

The blond’s serious expression abruptly shifted to an amused grin. “I know you didn’t. Seto, on the other hand, was going to make that threat if we had to go back to the school in the morning.”

“I seriously wonder if we’re related sometimes.”

“Genetically or technically?” Katsuya asked, making himself comfortable in the chair in front of his elder brother’s desk. “Because legally you’re stuck with us.”

“Well, I’m sure we can always drop you off at the animal shelter,” a third young man spoke up from the doorway. “People are always looking to adopt puppies, you know.”

Katsuya turned in his chair and mock-pouted at the brunet. “You’d miss me, Seto, and you damn well know it.”

“Maybe for a minute,” came the rapid reply, but any possible sting the words may have had were belied by the amusement in the teen’s blue eyes.

“For that I should cut off your cell phone privileges,” Katsuya calmly replied, fighting back a smirk at the sudden panic in his younger sibling’s eyes. “And don’t say I can’t do that. I _am_ older than you by nine months.”

“Noa?!”

“I’m afraid he can,” Noa said with a shake of his head; for as long as he’d known the pair they’d teased one another and had more than their share of fights. However, as they’d gotten older and had to take on certain responsibilities their ‘tiffs’ had become more affectionate. If a day went by when neither Seto nor Katsuya teased the other, _then_ Noa would start to worry.

Seto immediately crossed from the doorway to where the blond was seated and, in a move that would most likely shock anyone who’d seen the teenage president of Kaiba Corp in action, fairly flung himself across his older brother. “I didn’t mean that, Niisan, don’t take my phone away,” he said, doing a fairly accurate impersonation of Mokuba when the boy was being scolded for running in the hallways or throwing a tantrum for no apparent reason.

Katsuya tried to fight his amusement but failed, his laughter ringing through the small office. “I know, Seto, I was kidding.” He snickered again and pulled his brother into a quick hug before releasing him; Seto promptly settled on the arm of the chair. “You do a scarily convincing Mokuba, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Seto smirked, leaning back to use Katsuya as a backrest. “So, Aniki, what’s the word on the Fujimiya Private School for Teachers Who Don’t Know What a Restraining Order Means?”

Noa quirked an eyebrow at his brother’s phrasing; Seto was infamous for ripping those he felt were incompetents to shreds, and apparently their now-former private school was to be no exception. “As of five minutes ago neither you nor Katsuya are enrolled. Of course, neither are Shizuka and Mokuba, but Fujimiya doesn’t know that just yet.”

“So when none of us show up Monday then they’ll know,” the brunet said with a short nod. “You, Aniki, are evil incarnate.”

“No, that would be Katsu-inu when he’s had one too many lattes.”

“Hey, still in the room.”

“And you’re an excellent backrest, Niisan.”

Noa chuckled and rolled his eyes as his younger brothers started playfully bickering. There were days that he could barely believe that the blond teenager had once been the shy and withdrawn little boy he’d first met almost nine years ago or that the tall brunet (who was already taller than Noa himself at nearly six-foot-one) had once proclaimed that Mokuba was his only brother and he didn’t need two older ones. These days Seto seemed to derive a good deal of pleasure out of antagonizing both Noa and Katsuya, and Katsuya himself had become quite the social butterfly.

The only dark spot in their lives was the continued efforts of one Jounouchi Yoshiro to reclaim the children he’d never truly wanted in order to get his hands on their share of the Kaiba fortunes.

“Aniki, Niichan?”

“Niisan?”

Noa shook himself out of his thoughts at nearly the same instant his brothers fell silent and smiled at the pair now standing in the doorway. Shizuka was the very image of her mother Minako, right down to her reddish-blonde hair and brown eyes that were nearly identical to Katsuya’s own; Mokuba bore a strong resemblance to Seto although his hair was jet black and his eyes were slightly more grey than blue.

“Shouldn’t you still be at school for another half hour?” Seto asked his younger brother, quirking one eyebrow questioningly. Mokuba merely offered a smile and a shrug in response.

“Aniki pulled us out of class around noon,” the youngest Kaiba said. “We’ve been hanging out with security most of the afternoon.”

Shizuka didn’t say anything. Instead she rushed into the room and into her brother’s waiting arms, hugging him fiercely. “Niichan, Yoshi-san said that _he_ was at Fujimiya around lunchtime,” she said quietly after a moment. “Is that why we all left school early? Did he hurt you? I’ll kill him—no, I’ll hire an assassin and have him killed!”

“Kaiba Shizuka, don’t even think something like that,” Katsuya scolded, frowning a bit even as he held his sister more tightly to him. “You don’t want to be like _him_ , Shizu-chan. We’re _better_ than he is, and we’ll deal with our problems in the appropriate manner.”

Noa nodded in agreement, secretly pleased at how logically his usually impulsive sibling was acting. “Katsuya’s right, imouto. If Fujimiya doesn’t want to make waves by following our requests, then another school will be more suitable for all of you.”

Mokuba blinked and tilted his head, leaning against Seto. “Are you talking about public school, Aniki?” he asked, a hint of a frown in his eyes.

“There’s nothing wrong with public school,” Shizuka retorted. “Niichan and I attended public school for a few years, you know.”

“In elementary level,” the youngest Kaiba retorted, “but you’ve been in private schools for years now.”

“Enough.” Noa stood and stepped from behind his desk, fixing his younger siblings with a semi-stern look that was mostly for Mokuba and Shizuka’s benefit; neither Katsuya nor Seto seemed inclined to argue.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's about as far as I ever got with it. I find now that I'd forgotten where I was going with it but I'm pleased with what there is of it. I've been pondering lately delving back into the fandom, if only to finish a bunch of stories that I've left hanging for three-plus years; the first on my list is actually to get back to work on a story I was co-writing with Apollymi and that I'm pretty damned sure we both want to see come to a solid conclusion.


End file.
